'boxed wine' on Serious Eats

There's one trick that almost never fails to convince folks of boxed wine's merits: don't tell them. Pour the wine before guests arrive, have them taste it, and wait till glasses are nearly empty for the final reveal. Of course, this magic only works if the wine is actually decent, and that's where we can help. We tried 9 different wines from Bota Box wines to see which were the best, and which just wouldn't work to convince anyone of the merits of skipping the bottle. More

I hate to say it, but sometimes I waste alcohol. I open a bottle, enjoy a glass or two, and put the rest in the fridge, promising myself I'll finish it tomorrow or the next day. But sometimes all the vacuum pumps and rubber stoppers in the world can't stop me from needing to pour the rest down the drain. More

We love when good wine is packaged in a box—it keeps for weeks in the fridge, even if you only tap it a single glass at a time. It's environmentally friendly (shipping heavy glass bottles has a huge carbon footprint) and it saves us money. But we're less convinced by wine in a cardboard purse. More

When we recently received a sample of the new 500-mL Tetra Paks from Black Box Wines, we had to giggle a little. I mean, they look a bit like juice boxes meant for tucking into a sack lunch. And then we thought: sack lunch with wine? Maybe that's a good idea...More

Sure, there's plenty of cruddy wine in boxes (hey, there's also plenty of cruddy wine in bottles.) But after tasting dozens of boxed wines, we turned up a few truly delicious reds, whites, and rosés. Give them a try, and you may find you're not so into bottles after all. More

Last week, we found a few very tasty whites packaged in boxes instead of bottles. We love the long shelf life and environmental benefits of the bag-in-box. It's lighter to carry and fills fridge space efficiently. But they're not all delicious—we did the homework for you and ended up with this list of the best boxed red wines. More

If you're looking for better value in wine, you should consider looking inside the box. Don't just assume that all boxed wine is bad. We found a few to recommend. And unlike the bottle, which goes bad after a few days, the wine bag collapses as you drink and the liquid doesn't get exposed to oxygen, so the shelf life can last up to seven weeks. More

In response to Tyler "Dr. Vino" Colman's essay on boxed wine, Joseph J. Cattaneo says: Without a doubt, glass bottles are greener than wine boxes.Calculating a carbon footprint based solely on trucking capacity is myopic and fails to consider the carbon costs for extraction and manufacturing.Just envision the various elements that have to go into creating a wine box. It involves many more steps, materials and energy inputs than are required for making a glass bottle.As for recycling, most communities can handle glass, which is 100 percent recyclable. Good luck finding programs that handle wine boxes.The choice is clear: glass is greener. Setting aside the biases of the messenger (Cattaneo is from the Glass Packaging Institute), does this message ring... More

Boxed wine usually comes in the scoffable Franzia or Gallo forms, but the quality may improve and shed its tacky taboo. In lieu of heavy glass bottles, the lighter packaging (oftentimes nicknamed the "bladder pack") is more environmentally and economically friendly. According to Tyler "Dr. Vino" Colman in a New York Times op-ed piece yesterday: a standard wine bottle (holding 750 milliliters) that travels from a California vineyard to a New York store generates about 5.2 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions, while a three-liter box generates only half the emissions per 750 milliliters. Perks of boxed wine: the box is good for table wines that don’t need to age (which includes all but a handful of top global wines); saving leftovers... More

The New York Times reports that some fine government-approved Italian wine will, for the first time, be sold in boxes instead of bottles. Italy’s Agriculture Ministry is now offering its D.O.C. designation, which verifies the product’s origin, for some boxed wines. Worry not—the more rarefied D.O.C.G. seal is still reserved for bottles. Boxed wine has been around for several decades and over the years has gotten better and earned more respect. According to a related article in the New York Times, opening up a nice box with dinner is a bit more embraced in Australia and in Europe than on our own shores. Still, wine from a cardboard spout hasn't been able to shake its cheap and crappy stigma. Might... More

I spoke to Josh Wesson, grapehead supreme and founder of Best Cellars, about the Three Thieves Bandit Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc he carries in juice boxes (Tetra Paks). I figured if the real wine snobs are crazed about screw caps they must be more than a little annoyed about the juice boxes. But Wesson, ever the democratizing force in the wine business, loves them. "The boxes are completely inert (same innards as milk containers), so there's no reaction with the juice inside," Wesson says. "It's also airtight (until the seal is lifted or broken), so no oxidation is possible. I like them because they're lightweight and less fragile than half or quarter glass bottles. They also chill quicklyas the... More